US & World News

Rising prices in the euro area accelerated more than expected in April, according to estimates published by Eurostat agency Friday, which reinforces expectations of a further rise in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) during the summer.

Prices rose 2.8% year on year in the 17 countries using the euro, against a 2.7% rise expected and an increase of 2.7% in March.

The Governing Council of the ECB, which wants to contain rising prices slightly below 2.0%, meets Thursday.

According to a Reuters poll released Thursday, the central bank should not raise interest rates before the month of July, trying to stay the course between the fight against rising consumer prices and support growth.

"I imagine that some market participants expect the European Central Bank will raise rates sooner than expected. We expect June, but the market still awaits July. I think the consensus will now move into June," However commented Piet Lammens, economist at KBC.

The economic sentiment in the euro area has declined the past two months.He fell to 106.2 in April, after 107.3 in March.

"Studies by the European Commission clearly indicates that the combination of high oil prices, a strong euro and tighter fiscal and monetary policy began to weigh on economic sentiment in the euro area," said Martin van Vliet, economist at ING.

According to ECB data, lending to the private sector in the euro area declined in March, while consumer spending slowed, particularly in Germany but also in some peripheral countries such as Spain or Greece .

World number two home appliances Electrolux reported Wednesday a profit down 43%, slightly less than expected and maintained its outlook for modest growth in demand in Europe and North America.

The Swedish group displays a result of 696 million kronor, down 43% compared to first quarter 2010 due to higher raw material costs.

The market was expecting 662 million kronor, according to analysts polled by Reuters.

Electrolux says study up its selling prices to offset rising prices for steel and plastic.

The market leader Whirlpool must also publish its results Wednesday.

Ford Motor on Tuesday released its best quarterly profit in 13 years, driven by robust sales in the U.S. and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles.

These results better than expected, boosted the share of the American manufacturer, which jumped 3.5% in before-hours trading transactions.Ford had published accounts for the disappointing fourth quarter of 2010.

Net profit stood at 2.55 billion dollars over the period from January to March, or 61 cents per share, against $ 2.09 billion or 50 cents per share last year.

Excluding items, earnings per share (EPS) was 62 cents, while analysts on average expected 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Turnover has established himself to 33.1 billion dollars (22.7 billion euros), against 28.1 billion a year ago and a consensus of 29.7 billion.

Ford also said the March 11 earthquake in Japan would have only a "minimal impact" on its business.

CFO Lewis Booth said the group had seen its production reduced from 12,000 to only 14.000 in Asia, where several Ford plants have been temporarily closed.

Toyota said Friday forecast a return to normal production by November or December, bringing to nine month period between the resumption of full operations of the earthquake that ravaged northern Japan during the month March.

The world's largest automaker said that the standardization of its production would resume gradually from July to Japan around August and abroad.

In the weeks following the disaster, the group announced plans to decrease production in Japan, North America and China until June 3 and Europe until late May.

Toyota is now encouraging its suppliers to increase production sites in order to diversify risk.

Reflecting the improvement of the situation, the OEM Electronics Renesas, which provides chips to the automotive industry, announced Friday it would resume operations at its plant in Tokyo from June 3, weeks before the date originally planned.

Toyota ended up 3.1% at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while its rivals Nissan Motor and Honda Motor have been respectively 3.6% and 2.3%.

The state sold $ 3.6 billion of real estate since 2005. Only 500 million was allocated to debt reduction. Viewed from the Ministry of Economy and Finance at Bercy.

Between 2007 and 2010, the reduction of 330 000 m² of floor space occupied by the government, or nearly 3% (the state holds about 12 million square meters of offices), a savings over a full year of about 160 million. The renegotiations of leases in 2010 has also enabled a saving of 30 million euros, Baroin detailed in the Council of Ministers of 20 April.

The budget minister indiquéque the state had conceded a total of 3.6 billion euros since 2005 through such transfers. Of this amount, 500 million have been allocated to reducing the government debt. The remainder was returned to departments to upgrade their housing stock and the streamlining."The goal of proceeds from sales is 400 million for 2011," said Baroin.

The identification of the heritage of the state's assessment has about 100 billion euros at end-2009: 68 billion for the state and $ 42 billion for the operators (museums, employment center, CNRS …). The identification of the heritage of the 41 independent administrative authorities should be finalized by next summer, an operation which should quickly begin to state property abroad.

Fiat reported Wednesday in an operating profit exceeding its own expectations in the first quarter, to 251 million euros against 245 million expected.

Net income for the Italian carmaker is however lower than expected internal group, with 37 million euros against 75 million expected.

Fiat has also confirmed its objectives for the year.

Based on these results, Fiat shares gained 4.5% to 6.5650 euros in Milan Stock Exchange.

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Monday, reacting to the decision by Standard & Poor's to lower the outlook of the sovereign rating of the United States from stable to negative.

Markets are also concerned about the growing situation in Greece, and many investors expect a forthcoming restructuring of the debt, Athens firmly denies.

In addition, China announced Sunday a new increase in the reserve ratio, helping to weigh on markets.

In this context, the Dow Jones finished down 1.14% or 140.24 points to 12,201.59, while the S & P 500 was down by 1.1% or 14.54 points at 1305 14.

The Nasdaq has meanwhile decreased by 1.06% or 29.27 points to 2735.38.

The CBOE volatility index, known as the "fear index" on Wall Street, jumped nearly 17%.

The markets have however cleared late in the session part of their losses, some analysts have deemed the decline exaggerated. The decline at the end remains the largest in a month.

The S & P 500 is spent sitting below the 1,300 points, he had not done since March 24. In the short term, he seems to enjoy a threshold of support around 1.285.

The manufacturer of construction equipment Caterpillar fell 3.08% to 103.9 million.Investors expect a sharp increase in its costs.

The oil services group Halliburton closed up 0.68% to 47.14 dollars, and the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has instead ended down 1.08% to 35.62 dollars.

Both groups published their quarterly results Monday.

Citigroup ended unchanged at 4.42 dollars after reporting a quarterly profit slightly better than expected.

Syngenta was confident for 2011 after the publication Friday of sales above expectations for the first quarter.

After a good start to the season in the northern hemisphere, sales increased 13% at constant exchange rates, totaling 4.02 billion dollars against 3.9 billion expected by Reuters.

In Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the largest in terms of contribution to turnover, sales benefited from a supportive environment that "encouraged early investments by producers of wheat," said the World number one agrochemical in a statement.

"We're ready for a very good year," said John Ramsay, CFO in an interview with Reuters. "All product lines and all regions show significant increases compared to last year."

In the crop protection division, sales rose 11% to $ 2.79 billion, while those of the seeds division rose 20% to 1.24 billion.

The action Syngenta gained 1.65% to 307.60 francs to 9:00 GMT, while the European index values ​​of chemistry appreciating by 0.75%.Since early January, the stock has gained more than 10%, amid renewed investor interest in areas related to agricultural commodities.

ACQUISITIONS IN THE SEED

Syngenta is nevertheless faced with pricing pressures, down 1% from last year.United States, the group has again been forced to offer rebates in crop protection.

The group believes, however, that the pricing environment has stabilized, noting that price increases "modest" were introduced.

"The prices are firmer than expected, with positive implications for margins," said Florian Gaiser, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets.

Mike Mack, CEO of the group, also indicated that the portfolio of activities in the Crop Protection was fairly comprehensive, but it has not ruled out strengthening the Seeds.

"We are on the lookout for acquisitions in the seed business and are prepared if a target is available," he added, noting the targets are generally small in this segment.

Earlier this week, a rumor lending to German BASF intends to purchase Monsanto, Syngenta's U.S. rival, has been circulating on the markets.

Monsanto has also published in early April, sales above expectations.

Carrefour on Thursday confirmed its targets for 2011 after posting a turnover in line with expectations in the first quarter, Asia and Latin America offsetting the softness in activity in Europe.

In the first three months of the year, the distributor's sales totaled $ 24.698 billion euros, a figure slightly higher than the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters, which stood at 24.668 billion euros.

"Carrefour is on track to achieve its target of sales growth and operating profit in 2011," said Lars Olofsson, managing director general, said in a statement.

The world number two sector behind Wal-Mart has primarily benefited from strong sales in emerging markets, including China and Brazil, while Western Europe remains the sentence with a contraction 4.0% of sales in comparable stores, excluding gasoline.

In France, where Carrefour generates more than 40% of its business, sales have remained broadly stable in an environment which remains difficult, however, said Carrefour.

In hypermarkets, which account for over half of its French business, the turnover stood at 5.2 billion (-2.5% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol).

Belgium continued its recovery with an increase of 3.1% on a comparable adjusted for the calendar effect.By contrast, Italy has seen its sales fall by 3.8%.

In the first quarter, Carrefour has opened or acquired 231 new stores under banner, which is a creation of 116,000 m2 gross.

Carrefour has also announced a proposed transfer to the Brazilian bank Unibanco, Itau 49% BSF Holding, its financial services subsidiary in Brazil to 315 million euros.

The Carrefour share closed Thursday at 31.035 euros (-1.27%) while the European sector index closed up 0.33%. Since the beginning of the year, it posted an increase of 0.6%.

BPCE (People's Bank – Savings Bank) has awarded its chairman Perol a bonus of one million euros for fiscal 2010, an amount equal to twice his base salary, we read in Wednesday's document the mutual bank.

According to the document, 30% bonus of 1.056 million euros will be paid in cash in 2011.The remaining 70% will be deferred over three years and paid in cash in increments of 246,400 euros.

The former deputy secretary general of the Elysee, head parachuted Banques Populaires and Caisses d'Epargne in March 2009, multiplied by more than three and his total compensation due in 2010 as chairman of the mutual insurance group, parent company of Natixis, to 1.606 million euros against 461,884 euros in 2009.

Perol had relinquished in 2009 to receive a bonus.